Due to being home from college because of the COVID-19 epidemic, I am unable to visit my phenology spot in Centennial Woods. Instead, I decided to visit the Watchung Reservation next to my town in New Jersey. This reservation is massive and full of various trails to hike, learn about the history of the area, and horseback ride which I did here. However, I decided to take a short loop around a park in this protected area, and wandered down a path which took me to a nature center, and behind that building there were picnic tables in a large field and many hiking trails. I decided to sit at a picnic table at the edge of a few trail heads, and observe the area.
Compared to the last time I was able to visit my original phenology site in Centennial, this site did not have the brook which I had been observing in Burlington. The differences I could point out were in the growth of the understory at this site, where smaller plants were beginning to show signs of buds growing.
On the sunny, warm, 50 degree day that I visited this site, plants were beginning to bloom after a long winter. Grass was beginning to grow out of the ground again, and buds on especially the undergrowth were beginning to become green and visible. I noticed that at least from what I could see, taller trees were not beginning to show signs of growth just yet.
My allergies were bothering me, which happens this time of year. This shows me that pollen is in the air, especially being carried by the wind which was quite prevalent this day.
Other signs of life were beginning to arise as well. Birds were chirping, and I especially saw a lot of bluejays, cardinals, and robins. There was quite a contrast between what I saw right in front of me, which was small plants beginning to bloom and grass growing, and the dark colors of the forest ahead of me which did not begin to show signs of life just yet. I thought about this a bit, and was quite confused about why this was.